Advertising and Promotional Communication

Module Introduction
Advertising and promotional communication are an important part of brand
marketing strategy. They are also a significant part of the cultural experience of
millions of consumers. This module combines these two perspectives, the
managerial and the cultural. There are two main reasons for this. One is that
cultural studies of advertising, drawing on traditions such as semiotics, literary
theory and discourse studies, can yield powerful insights into the ways that
promotional communication frames ideas and informs behaviour. These insights
cover not only the cultural influence of promotional communication as a conveyor
of norms and values with a wide social significance, but also the way it works
from a brand management point of view. The other reason for taking this dual
perspective is that many students come to the study of this area already engaged
with advertising, not only as consumers but as citizens. They are aware of the
many debates and controversies surrounding the subject. This module seeks to
use this personal engagement with advertising as the point of departure for a
deeper examination of the subject from both a managerial and a cultural point of
view.
The overall aim of the module is to develop a thorough practical understanding of
marketing communication management in a global cultural context, by drawing
on recent research studies and first-hand accounts of strategy development from
leading international advertising agencies.
A word about terms: the term advertising and promotional communication is
cumbersome but indicates the broad scope of the module. Particular promotional
channels are sometimes defined quite narrowly in typical texts, while terms like
marketing communication tend to be over-used and loaded with presuppositions
about the scope, aims and methods of the subject. For most people, advertising is
a general term for any promotional communication, but technical specialists
differentiate between the various forms such as sales promotion, direct mail, paid-
for advertising on press or broadcast media, sponsorship, corporate
communication and so on. These different media should not be conflated.

As we shall see during the course of the module, promotional media are read in
different ways and media choice has important implications for communications
strategy. But there is a strong case for taking a more general view when studying
the subject. One reason is practical. Global brand marketing organizations now
take an integrated view of their communications planning. They do not assume
that one promotional medium will achieve their aims. Neither do they assume
that a given medium is necessarily better than another. They seek to integrate
communications strategy through all media channels, combining approaches in
order to communicate the desired brand image and values consistently and
powerfully to the target audience. This drive for integrated marketing
communications is based on pragmatic considerations of the particular brand and
its markets. So a broad approach reflects contemporary marketing
communications practice.
A second reason for taking a broad approach is that the global media
infrastructure has changed dramatically. It is increasingly difficult to place
creative brand strategies in clearly demarcated media categories since developing
technology, and especially the internet, are opening up new, hybrid forms of
promotional communication. Definitions can be misleading since promotional
communication is, in terms of the use of media, more creative than ever before.
Moreover, in many campaigns, traditional promotional categories overlap.
So, for example, brand placements appear in computer games which are
themselves branded and marketed. So there are brands within brands. These
placements are carefully designed and negotiated to be mutually beneficial to the
placed brand and the computer game. Sponsored links to branded websites
appear on social networking websites like Bebo and MySpace, again combining
brands within brands for a mutually enhancing strategic effect. At the time of
writing, the web-based search engine brand Google is preparing a takeover bid of
more than $1.5 billion for social networking website YouTube. YouTube does not
yet generate significant profits but has enormous user traffic with an estimated
100 million people accessing the site daily. Clearly there is huge commercial
potential where such volumes of consumers gather. The internet is creating
entirely new business models that are based on communication. The hybrid brand
communications strategies and new business models made possible by new
communications technology defy easy categorization.
So, this module seeks to offer a new perspective on this rapidly evolving field by
drawing on not only recent first-hand research into how brand marketing
communication strategies are developed and executed, but also on contemporary
cultural research. By so doing the module balances managerial issues with social
and cultural issues in this field. The term advertising and promotional
communication seems appropriately broad for capturing this dual perspective.

The module consists of ten chapters which coincide with the ten chapters of the
essential text. Chapter 1 introduces the main themes and concepts of the module.
Chapter 2 explains the major theoretical issues involved, and which are the basis
for the rest of the module. Chapter 3 begins the detailed account of current
practice with an exploration of the roles advertising and promotional
communication can and do play in strategic brand management. Chapter 4
discusses strategy formulation and the organization of work in typical advertising
and promotional agencies. Chapter 5 details the media issues involved in
communications planning while Chapter 6 discusses evolving aspects of
promotion, especially hybrid promotional forms such as those linked with brand
and product placement in entertainment vehicles. Chapter 7 examines the issues
of cross-cultural communication in international campaign planning and Chapter
8 looks into the complex and topics area of promotional ethics. Chapter 9
describes the main research techniques deployed in the advertising
communication business, and especially that in advertising agencies. Chapter 10
rounds up the module and returns to theoretical issues to suggest a way of
integrating theories to develop differing levels of explanation for particular
advertising phenomena.

Module Aims
The main aims of this module are to:
Offer a synthesis of theoretical and practical perspectives on advertising and promotional
communication in an international context.
Present a detailed account of contemporary marketing communications practice based on first
hand accounts and recent research in top international advertising agencies.
Encourage students to draw on their personal experience of advertising and promotion to
enhance the theoretical and strategic perspectives of the module
Examine ethical, critical and social issues arising through contemporary practice in the field of
advertising and promotional communication.

Module Objectives
At the end of this module you should be able to:
Discuss ethical debates about particular advertisements in terms of differing ethical arguments
and alternative national regulatory systems.
Construct a basic promotional plan based on a strategic communication rationale and
including explanations of positioning, targeting and segmentation.
Interpret creative executions in particular media such as print advertisements in terms of their
likely target audience and intended market positioning.
Distinguish between media vehicles and media channels and construct a basic media plan for
a hypothetical promotional campaign
Explain how the various advertising agency roles interact in a typical model of the creative
advertising development process
Evaluate the uses, advantages and drawbacks of alternative research approaches in the
communications field
Describe some of the marketing objectives that promotional communication can support such
as new brand launch, re-positioning, or new market entry.
Outline the contribution of differing theoretical approaches to advertising and promotional
communication practice





Module Contents

Chapter 1: Studying Advertising and Promotional Communication
1.1 Functionality, Symbolism and the Social Communication of Brands
1.2 Advertising Agency Communications Planning

Chapter 2: Theorizing Advertising and Promotional Communication
2.1 Theories of Persuasive Communication: The Hierarchy of Effects Tradition
2.2 Consumer Culture Theory
2.3 Concepts of Consumer Culture Theory applied to Advertising

Chapter 3: The Role of Advertising and Communication in Brand Strategy
3.1 Strategic Marketing and Brand Communication
3.2 Advertising as Social Communication

Chapter 4: The Business of Advertising and Promotion
4.1 Advertising Agencies in Transition
4.2 Advertising Agency Roles and Operations

Chapter 5: The Changing Media Infrastructure for Advertising and Promotion
5.1 The Changing Media Environment
5.2 Media Planning

Chapter 6: Mediated Entertainment and Multi-Channel Promotion
6.1 Mediated Entertainment and Marketing
6.2 Techniques of Entertainment Marketing

Chapter 7: The Permeable Borders of Advertising: Local and Global Issues
7.1 Globalization and Cross-cultural Communication
7.2 International Advertising Management

Chapter 8: Ethics and Regulation of Advertising and Promotional Communication
8.1 Why should Advertising be Ethical?
8.2 Ethical debates surrounding advertising
8.3 Clarifying ethical arguments with concepts from moral philosophy

Chapter 9: Research in Advertising
9.1 Uses of Research in Advertising
9.2 Advertising Research Techniques

Chapter 10: Review of Advertising and Promotional Communication
10.1 Social Research in Advertising and Promotional Communication
10.2 Theory and practice in advertising


1
Chapter 1: Studying Advertising and
Promotional Communication
Introduction
Overview
Studying advertising and promotional communication can be
exciting not only because of its role in marketing but also because it
engages with our own experience. Chapter 1 sets the scene for the
module, discussing some of the issues involved in studying this
complex and rapidly evolving area. Advertising and promotional
communication are powerful elements in contemporary brand
marketing and an influential form of contemporary social
communication. The chapter explains the centrality of current
notions of the brand image and personality to promotional
strategy. It also introduces some of the most important concepts
around which the module is organized. It marks a distinction
between functionality and symbolism of brands. The chapter
explains that the module takes a strategic, integrated and research-
based approach to communications management.
Aims
The purpose of this chapter is to:
Establish the major themes which underpin the module
Engage students with a sense of the immediacy of promotional
communication as a feature of their daily experience as consumers, as
citizens, or as managers
Explain the important distinction between brand functionality and brand
symbolism
Indicate something of the broad scope of study in this complex and evolving
area
Learning Outcomes
After studying this chapter, you will be able to:
Talk about the scope of advertising and promotional communication as a
topic of study and research
Explain the distinction between functionality and symbolism of brands
Understand the importance of three major themes in marketing
communications planning: strategy, integration and research
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Contents_____________
Introduction 1
Overview 1
Aims 1
Learning Outcomes 1
Contents_____________ 2
Resources 3
Essential readings 3
Readings for further study 3
Web links 3
1.1 Functionality, symbolism and the social communication of brands 4
Learning Objectives 4
Introduction: The experience of advertising 4
Functionality, symbolism and the social communication of brands 4
Activity 1.1.1 6
Is anything new in advertising? 6
Activity 1.1.2 7
1.2 Advertising Agency Communications Planning 8
Learning Objective 8
Activity 1.2.1 9
Strategic Communication Planning 9
Activity 1.2.2 11
Summary___________ 13
Self-assessment activity 13
Online discussion topic 13
Feedback on activities 14
Chapter 1: Studying Advertising and Promotional Communication
3
Resources
Essential readings
Hackley, Chris (2005) Advertising and promotion: communicating brands,
Sage, London, Chapter 1, pp.1-24.
This chapter in the essential module text introduces the major
themes of the module and explains the scope of social research and
managerial practice that the module covers.
Readings for further study
Section 1.1
Elliott, R. and Wattanasuwan, K. (1998) Brands as symbolic resources for the
construction of identity, International Journal of Advertising, 17, 2: pp. 131-
144.
A book written by an academic semiologist, Marcel Danesi, called
Brands (2006) published by Routlege offers a rich and insightful
account of brand symbolism from a semiotic perspective.
Section 1.2
Schroeder, J. E., and Salzer-Mrling, M. (2006) Brand Culture, London,
Routledge.
Schultz, D. E., Tannenbaum, S.I. and Lauterborn R.F. (1994) Integrated
Marketing Communications, Il., NTC Business books.
It will also be useful to peruse the following Journals:
Journal of Advertising Research
Journal of Consumer Research
Journal of Advertising
Consumption, Markets and Culture
Journal of Marketing Communications
International Journal of Advertising
Web links
http://www.symbolism.org/about.html
This is the web presence of a consulting organization working in
brand symbolism. It carries a number of interesting articles and
other resources on symbolism in popular culture.
Examples of advertisement Agencies and professional associations:
http://www.fallon.com/05/fallon.html
http://www.saatchi.com/worldwide/index.asp
http://www.aaasite.org/
Advertising and Promotional Communication
4
1.1 Functionality, symbolism and the social
communication of brands
Learning Objectives
Talk about the scope of advertising and promotional communication as a
topic of study and research
Explain the distinction between functionality and symbolism of brands
Introduction: The experience of advertising
We have all asked questions about advertising at some time or
other. Which promotional messages do you recall seeing in the last
week? How did you respond to them? With indifference? Or with
fascination? Were you offended, intrigued, bored? Did you talk
about them with your friends? Many people complain that
advertising communication is repetitive, vulgar, tedious or
meaningless. What are these advertisements trying to achieve?
Who, exactly, is responsible for them? Who decides which ads are
appropriate to show and which are not? Do we react in the way
that advertisers want us to, or are they simply wasting their money?
Does the quantity and style of promotional communication create
social problems, or does it cure social problems?
This module revolves around everyday questions like these about
advertising and promotion as we, consumers and citizens,
experience it. These very questions are also asked by the
professionals who create advertising and promotion and our aim in
this module is to understand advertising and promotion better from
a managerial perspective as well as a consumer perspective. In
particular, advertising and promotional communication has a richly
symbolic dimension which brand planners have to try to manage.
The functional utility of marketed brands and services is undeniably
important but, arguably, advertising and promotional
communication are most powerfully expressed when dealing with
the symbolic meaning of brands. In this section we discuss the key
distinction of functionality and symbolism in brand communication.
This distinction is an important one for understanding why
advertising and promotional communications are the way they are.
In order to make this distinction we will begin to examine the
notion of the brand and to outline a historical context for brand
communication.
Functionality, symbolism and the social communication of
brands
Brands
Brands and branding are central to this modules treatment of
advertising and promotion. Branding has become central to practice
not only in consumer marketing but in business-to-business, non-
profit and public sector, services marketing and beyond. A service, a
product, a political party, a university, an author, a celebrity, a
corporation, a country, can all be treated as brands in terms of the
way they are promoted. The brand personality, brand values and
Chapter 1: Studying Advertising and Promotional Communication
5
brand image are the point of departure for communications
planning since all communications need to reflect those same
values. Brands are partly material, consisting in particular
combinations of design, service, colour and so forth, and partly
intangible. The intangible part reflects the accumulated ideas and
experiences of consumers which form their impression of that
brand. In the ideal integrated communications plan the brand is
portrayed consistently through all communication channels. The
ultimate objective is to create a clear and distinctive market
positioning linked to the brand values.
Brands, then, are not merely labels for products with particular
bundles of features and performance. They also have an abstract
dimension that brings particular sets of psychological and
emotional associations to the consumers engagement with that
brand.
Brand functionality
Functionality refers to the practical use benefits conferred by a
particular brand. As economists say, branded products and services
have utility. If it is a painkiller, does it alleviate headaches or
muscle pains? If it is a wrinkle cream, does it make the user look
(or feel) younger? If it is a car, is it reliable, comfortable, do the
brakes work well? Clearly, functionality is important. Products that
are of shoddy quality will not be popular. Nevertheless,
functionality is only one aspect of the brand. In other words,
functionality is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for a
successful and popular consumer brand. It must also have a strong,
distinctive and attractive brand image.
Brand management is a practical task which often includes matters
such as raw material sourcing or (especially with services) staff
training, manufacture and quality management. But the brand is, in
a sense, more than the sum of its parts. Its intangible aspect is
hugely important. It is this aspect of the brand, often called its
image, that can be exploited, developed, popularized and
promoted through promotional communication.
Brand symbolism and social communication
Symbolism refers to the intangible, abstract ideas and attributes of
the brand, often referred to loosely as its brand image. Brands
have to engage the consumer imagination and link consumption
with abstract values.
Anthropologists have long known that the ownership and display of
possessions has a powerful symbolism. Possessions can signify
social status, relationships, age, gender, religious belief, group
membership, ethnicity or nationality; possessions can also hold
great emotional power for the owner. Possessions can, in other
words, communicate values, emotions, roles, origin, relationships
and other meanings connected with self and social identification.
Brands can be seen as a rich vocabulary of symbolic social
communication.
Before you proceed to the next section, try the following activity to
consolidate your understanding. As with all such activities, please
make sure that you have completed all the required reading for the
topic first, and if you have any problems with the questions dont
Advertising and Promotional Communication
6
hesitate to go online and discuss these with your module tutor
and/or with your fellow students.
Activity 1.1.1
Look at the table below listing the top 13 global brands by value:
1. Coca Cola
2. Microsoft
3. IBM
4. GE
5. Intel
6. Nokia
7. Disney
8. MacDonalds
9. Toyota
10. Marlboro
11. Mercedes-Benz
12. Citi
13. Hewlett Packard
Source: The Top 100 Global Brands Scoreboard.Business Week Online website,
http://bwnt.businessweek.com/brand/2005/
Reflect on your own ideas about these brands:
List the adjectives that spring to mind when you think of each brand.
Where did your ideas about each brand come from?
From your own experience of using the brand? Or from the communication
you have engaged with about that brand, whether in the form of everyday
conversation, press stories, TV and movie items, sponsorship or advertising?
Feedback: See page 14
Is anything new in advertising?
Before we move on in the chapter it might be useful to reflect
briefly on the historical position of advertising. Advertising and
promotional communication might be thought of as essentially
modern phenomena, but the issues they raise are far from new.
Advertising is often presented as if it became a sophisticated device
of persuasion only in the 20
th
Century. But informative advertising
has been found in ancient civilizations. For example, advertising
signs can be seen today in the remains of Ephesus, the 2000 year-
old Biblical city in modern Turkey. Other forms of persuasive
promotion are associated with the modern era, but they are not
new either. McFall
1
notes complaints about advertising in London
in the mid-1700s. People wearing advertising hoardings thronged
London streets, promotional posters were posted on every available
public space and other forms of promotion such as product
placement were far from unknown. For example, patent medicine
entrepreneur and philanthropist Thomas Holloway placed his
1 McFall (2004) Advertising; A Cultural
Economy, London, Routledge.
Chapter 1: Studying Advertising and Promotional Communication
7
branded medicines and tonics in London stage plays of the time and
even asked Charles Dickens to mention them in his novels. Born in
1800, Holloway became one of Britains richest men by spending
the equivalent of up to $100,000 per year on his promotional
budget, including billboards in China. Today a College of the
University of London, Royal Holloway, bears his name to mark the
building he bequeathed it
2
. One lesson we can take from this
historical perspective is that while the practices of advertising are
not new, the technology and media infrastructure of advertising is,
relatively speaking. Digital communications technology and
broadcasting de-regulation in many countries have created an
historically unprecedented communications environment for
promotion.
Bearing in mind the above discussion, and before you proceed,
please attempt the following activity
Activity 1.1.2
Look up some print ads on an advertising history resource websites from a decade
of your choice. Now compare those ads to a selection from this weeks
magazines. In what ways do you feel the respective ads reflect changes in the
particular society they depict and/or changes in the techniques of advertising?
Feedback: See page 14
2 www.rhul.ac.uk
Advertising and Promotional Communication
8
1.2 Advertising Agency Communications Planning
This section introduces the managerial perspective on advertising
and communication. Top advertising agencies emphasize three
elements in their communications planning: integration, strategy
and research. Throughout this module, as well as drawing on
contemporary cultural theory, we will refer to accounts of
advertising and promotional practice from top international
advertising agencies. From these accounts, you will discover that
key elements of current practice include a strategic perspective on
advertising communication and an integrated and research-based
approach to communications planning.
Learning Objective
Outline the managerial emphasis of the module in terms of three major
themes: strategy, integration and research
The strategic perspective
A distinction is often drawn in management policy between strategy
and tactics. The tactical perspective is usually described in terms of
short-term objectives, small-scale resource commitment and a product or
market level of operation.
Strategy is usually described in terms of
medium-to-long term objectives, major resources and a corporate level of
operation.
Strategic decisions are long term, command significant resources,
have serious implications for the corporation and, therefore, involve
careful planning.
Tactics
Promotion is often described, in standard marketing management
texts, as one of the tactical tools available to marketing managers to
manipulate demand. The popular marketing conceptualization of
the Four Ps, Price, Promotion, Product and Physical distribution,
also known as the Marketing Mix, suggests that all promotional
decisions are tactical rather than strategic.
But this is not necessarily so. Advertising campaigns have changed
the fortunes of large organizations and radically altered the
competitive structure of entire markets.
Before you continue, try activity 1.2.1. This will be useful in
encouraging you to research the internet on this subject and form
your own views and perspectives. As always, remember to seek
online assistance if you require it.
Chapter 1: Studying Advertising and Promotional Communication
9
Activity 1.2.1
Use the internet to search for three examples of brand advertisements or brand
websites.
What is the functionality of each advertised brand? In other words, what
practical purpose does it serve?
Does each brand also have a symbolic meaning? For example, Mercedes-
Benz is a brand of car with a good reputation for quality, but it is also a
symbol for prestige and making it it life which features in pop songs and
movies. What are the symbolic meanings attached to the brands you have
chosen?
Discuss your interpretation of those meanings with your fellow students and
friends. Do you agree?
Is it possible that there are many equally valid interpretations possible of the
symbolic meaning of the advertised brand?
Feedback: See page 14
Strategic Communication Planning
The strategic rationale for promotion
The strategic managerial perspective on advertising and promotion
implies that, when a promotion agency receives a brief from a
client, the agency should conceive of the brief in the context of the
clients strategic marketing objectives. So the initial focus of the
agency is not on creativity, audience response, or even sales, but on
supporting the clients marketing needs with a communication
solution. Strategic communication planning is carefully devised
with detailed consumer and market research. Above all, strategic
advertising and promotion has a carefully considered rationale or
purpose that is consistent with the overall marketing and corporate
strategy of that organization. This purpose is what gives the
communications coherence even through different creative
executions deployed through different media channels. One benefit
of having a carefully-conceived purpose behind communication
planning is that results are more accountable if the outcomes of
campaigns can be judged against a set of objectives. Another is that
the creative staff have a clear brief to work to.
For example, in one well-known UK campaign by agency DDB
London for German car manufacturer Volkswagen, the consumer
research indicated that the target market segment thought VWs
were more expensive than similar cars in the same class. The
agency decided that the strategy, the rationale for advertising,
should be that VWs are less expensive than people might think.
Every advertisement in the campaign follows the same basic theme-
it tells consumers that VWs are not as expensive as they might
think. The various creative executions convey this message in
amusing and offbeat ways and the ads have won many awards
during the ten years or more in which the campaign has been
running.
Advertising and Promotional Communication
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Another important feature of communications planning is referred
to as integration. This means the integration of the different media
channels to enhance or leverage the overall effect.
Integration
Integration in marketing communication (often called by the buzz-
term Integrated Marketing Communications or IMC) refers to the
co-ordinated use of a number of communication channels in the
same campaign. Increasingly, clients expect full service advertising
agencies to be able to deliver expertise in all promotional media
and also to plan campaigns that integrate creative executions and
media planning for all channels simultaneously. So, for example, a
campaign might utilize public relations, a web presence and in-
store sales promotions, all carrying consistent brand values. The
objective is not only to create a sense of coherence for the brand
but also to reach members of the target segment who may not be
easily reached through mainstream media.
Through-the-line solutions
Another industry term for integration is through-the-line solutions.
Advertising agencies still sometimes use a terminology that divides
mass media promotions such as broadcast media, national daily
press and cinema advertising (called above the line) from other
promotional media such as sales promotions, direct selling, direct
mail and so on (called below the line). Conventional wisdom held
that above the line media were best for the strategic purpose of
raising mass awareness while below the line promotions could be
used in support to persuade consumers to trial the product or to
create short term sales through money-off or two-for-one offers or
short term sales promotions.
The logic of IMC and through-the-line communication is simple. If a
message or theme is deployed consistently but through different
communication channels this can have a reinforcing effect, making
the brand message more powerful. If the brand images which
consumers encounter in different channels carry different messages,
then this might confuse the consumer and dilute the brand image.
Furthermore, it makes sense to create campaigns that can translate
to executions on different channels because the message will reach
more consumers.
The role of research
Naturally enough, the academic study of advertising and promotion
draws on research into many aspects of the field. Similarly, research
is central to a great deal of advertising agency practice. Consumer
and market research have played major roles in advertising practice
since advertising agencies began to evolve into their modern form
around the 1950s. In fact, most of todays major international
market research organizations grew out of their origins in
advertising agencies. Today, research remains a major feature of
advertising planning. Consumer and market research into
competitive conditions, trends, attitudes and behaviour underpin
most promotional campaigns. Research is also extensively used by
agencies to test creative executions before campaign launch.
Chapter 1: Studying Advertising and Promotional Communication
11
Later in the module we will examine some of these research
techniques more closely. For now, it is sufficient just to say that the
approach to advertising and promotion elucidated in the module
assumes that research is fundamental to managerial practice in this
field, as well as being fundamental to its academic study.
Before you go any further in this chapter, please try the following
activity.
Activity 1.2.2
Throughout this course it will be useful for you to develop descriptive knowledge
of current practice in advertising and promotion. You can begin to do this by
looking up some websites of advertising agencies and professional associations
listed in the resources section of this chapter. You can begin to build up a
personal scrapbook of case vignettes of advertising and promotional practice.
It will also be very useful for you to gain access to some academic journal sources
such as those listed in the further reading for this Section.
Feedback: See page 14
The role of research in advertising and promotion is discussed in
more detail later in the module. For the present the key issue is
this: research can ground brand communication strategy in facts
about the market and its consumers. Research-based
communication strategy is not merely the subjective creation of
creative professionals or marketing planners. It involves the
integration of the brand personality and values as conceived by the
brand client with facts about the marketplace. The brand and the
marketplace facts are crystallized and articulated in the creative
campaign. This means that advertising and promotion campaigns in
practice are conceived and executed through the combined efforts
of several groups of people: the brand client representatives, and
the agency account team and researchers.
Marketing, signification and positioning
A communication perspective on marketing practice need not stop
with promotion. As we have seen, symbolic communication can be
just as penetrating as communication that is made explicit through
language. The implication of symbolic communication for
marketing is that every aspect of the marketing mix signifies
something- it communicates. A high price signifies prestige,
exclusivity and, by implication, confers power on the owner. An
intensive distribution strategy (distributing a brand through any
possible outlet, such as chewing gum) signifies that the brand does
not have a prestige or status positioning. Product design is also a
powerful signifier. Marketing activity often appeals to the
consumers aesthetic sensibility. People like to buy things that are
beautiful, elegant, stylish. Dyson vacuum cleaners and Mazda MX5
sports cars are two examples of products which have a strong
aesthetic appeal. This appeal carries a symbolic resonance implying
something positive about the consumers sense of taste and
discernment.
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Brand consistency
The key issue for marketing is that the brand story told by all these
communications should make sense, it should be consistent. Some
owners of prestige brands are very annoyed when retailers sell their
brand at a discounted price for exactly this reason- they worry that
the lower price will undermine the brand positioning, reducing its
authenticity. Marketers know that the positioning of a brand, the
complex of tangible and intangible attributes of a brand, needs to
be reinforced by every possible means so that consumers are
entirely clear about it. Inconsistencies or discordant elements might
damage the brand image. That is one reason why brand planners,
rather than marketers, are increasingly representing clients with
communication agencies. They have the overall responsibility as
brand custodians to make sure that what they see as the core
values and image of the brand are preserved in all creative
executions.
Chapter 1: Studying Advertising and Promotional Communication
13
Summary___________
Our own consumer experience is the starting point for
understanding advertising and promotion. In studying this topic
students are encouraged to notice the promotions they encounter,
to speculate on their promotional objectives and to gather
collections of promotional communications for analysis and
discussion. Functionality refers to the practical characteristics of a
branded product or service.
Symbolism refers to the brand image, those abstract qualities that
people learn to associate with a brand because of the
communications about it that they encounter.
Social communication refers to the way the brands we consume
act as a cultural vocabulary signalling our sense of our social
identity to others and reflecting our own fantasies and
aspirations of status and glamour.
Three key terms for understanding promotion planning are
strategy, integration and research: strategy refers to the need
for communications to have a clearly conceived purpose that is
consistent with the overall marketing strategy: integration
refers to the need for communications planners to consider the
interaction of different media channels is designing campaigns:
research refers to the need for communications strategy to be
grounded in a thorough understanding of the relevant market
and its consumers.
Self-assessment activity
1. Make a list of all the forms of promotion and advertising you have seen in
the last month. Does the list surprise you? Can you think of any social spaces
or media that have not yet been exploited by advertisers?
2. To what does the word integration refer to in marketing communications?
This module explains that integration has increased importance within the
new media infrastructure. Can you explain some reasons for this?
3. This chapter has explained that advertising and promotion perform a
complex social role as well as an essential commercial function. Are these
roles mutually reinforcing or mutually exclusive?
4. Read the Tourism Authority of Thailand case on pages 21-23 of the essential
text and attempt the case questions.
Online discussion topic
After reading this chapter, has your view of advertisings social role changed?
Make a list of arguments in favour of advertising and contrast it with a list of
arguments against advertising. Convene a study group to discuss the
implications. Can the opposing viewpoints be reconciled?
Advertising and Promotional Communication
14
Feedback on activities
Activity 1.1.1
The brands listed should evince particular associations for you. For example,
Mercedes Benz tends to be linked with prestige, status, high quality and perhaps
glamour. But few of us actually own such a car, we have formed our ideas about
it from the social world around us. I hope that this thought-experiment will
illustrate two things: one, that our ideas about brands are powerfully informed by
communications as well as by experience, and especially by promotional
communications. Secondly, I hope the exercise will show how important the
distinction is between functionality (what a brand does) and symbolism (what a
brand means).
Activity 1.1.2
This is another reflective exercise which does not have a single correct response
but is designed to encourage you to start thinking analytically about advertising.
Advertisements from a particular culture or era can be powerful messages about
the values and behaviour which were taken for granted in that time. This exercise
reflects two common questions about advertising. One is, does advertising reflect
culture or influence it? A second question is, have the techniques of persuasion
used by advertisers become more sophisticated over time? Reflect on these
questions as you compare the respective advertisements and perhaps you can
return to your response after you have studied later parts of the course.
Activity 1.2.1
This is another exercise in self-reflection designed to develop your analytical skills.
Firstly, it encourages you to practice distinguishing between functionality and
symbolism in advertising. Secondly, it begins to hint at a major theme of the
course, namely that the meaning of advertising can be far more complex and
unstable than we might expect. Perhaps your friends will come up with a number
of different interpretations of each advertisement. If they all offer the same
interpretation, then it just goes to show that sometimes advertising meaning can
be quite easy to agree upon!
Activity 1.2.2
One of the main aims of this course is to encourage you to think about
advertising analytically rather than simply responding to it as a consumer.
Building up a selection of advertisements should help you to begin to understand
the wide range of communication and marketing objectives advertising and
promotion can support. Studying academic journal articles on advertising should
help you to understand the wide range of theoretical approaches that can be
taken to analyse advertising.
Feedback on self-assessment activity
Regarding the second question, the meaning of integration in a marketing
communications context refers to the combination and co-ordination of different
communication channels in a single campaign. It is growing in importance
because the rise of new media, driven by new technology, and changing media
Chapter 1: Studying Advertising and Promotional Communication
15
consumption patterns. The third question asks you to reflect on a major theme of
the module, the adoption of perspectives from cultural and social studies to
understand advertising management. The module implies heavily that these two
perspectives are far from mutually exclusive, though of course, like most things in
advertising, this is a matter of opinion!
The Tourism Authority of Thailand case on pages 21-23 of the essential text:
Question 1
A perception matrix (defined in Hackley (2005) page 252) is a well-known device
for spatially representing brand perceptions. Two axes, for example in this case,
quality and cost, can be used and different countries position plotted on the
graph as in this example for UK beer brands:
The remainder of the exercise is speculative, designed to get you and your
colleagues to think like brand planners who are trying to market a country. The
Tourism Authority of Thailands advertising agency undertook exactly such an
exercise in the course of planning their promotional campaign.
Question 2
Once again, this exercise is designed as a strategic thinking exercise, there is no
correct answer.
Question 3
The idea of this exercise is to give you the opportunity of applying some strategic
communication planning principles speculatively to a case of your choice, perhaps
using your own country of origin. Every country has to market itself as a
destination for tourists, business conferences, business start-ups and so forth.
What are the key issues which you feel apply in the case of a particular country?
Perceptual Mapping
Strong beer
Light beer
Weak beer
Dark beer
Guinness
Bud
Carlsberg
Special Brew
Caffreys
Bankss Mild
Heineken
Carlsberg
Tennants Extra